movies and myspace: the effectiveness of official websites versus online promotional contests
DESCRIPTION
Few studies examine the effects of Internet promotions within social networking sites. This study used a comparison of online survey results from an official movie site and a movie contest promotion within a MySpace site to examine the effectiveness of the two online promotional tactics. Results indicated that overall the official website was more effective than the MySpace promotional page at increasing intent to see the movie. However, based on the findings, the authors believe the most effective campaign would use both an official website and a social networking site. This study suggests additional research to explore the effectiveness of advertising messages on social network platforms and to understand how users interact and respond to messages within these social communities.TRANSCRIPT
Movies and MySpace:
The Effectiveness of Official Websites vs. Online Promotional
Contests
Emily Mabry, LSU
Dr. Lance Porter, LSU
AEJMC ConferenceAugust 5-8, 2009
Research Significance
• Little research examining effects of Internet movie promotions
• Research on advertising using social networks is mostly descriptive
• Study will bridge gaps in research by examining effectiveness of specific online promotional tactics
Study Overview• Comparison of survey results from
– an official movie site
– a movie contest promotion within in a MySpace page
Hypotheses• Hypothesis 1a. Users with more positive
attitudes toward the official movie website will have more positive intent to purchase.
• Hypothesis 1b. Users with more positive attitudes toward the official movie website will have more positive opening weekend behavior.
• Hypothesis 2a. Users with more positive attitudes toward the MySpace promotional page will have more positive intent to purchase.
• Hypothesis 2b. Users with more positive attitudes toward the MySpace promotional page will have more positive opening weekend behavior.
Research Questions
• Research Question 1. Exposure to which site is more effective in positively influencing opening weekend behavior and intent to purchase?
• Research Question 2: Do respondents like the official website or the MySpace promotional page more?
• Research Question 3: What effects will the MySpace promotion have on frequent moviegoers’ intent to purchase and opening weekend behavior compared to the effects of the official movie website?
Research Questions cont.
• Research Question 4a: How do user demographics of official website respondents differ in regards to intent to purchase and opening weekend behavior?
• Research Question 4b: How do user demographics of the MySpace promotional page respondents differ in regards to intent to purchase and opening weekend behavior?
Methodology• Voluntary online survey on two sites
• 31-question survey to measure:
– Attitude toward the site (Chen and Wells, 1999)
– Rating of site (Jee and Lee, 2002)
– Online usage
– Intent to Purchase
– Opening Weekend Behavior
Sample
Total: 13,803
MySpace: 951
Official site: 12,852
Age
Race
Gender
Official Site Results• Hypothesis 1a. Those who liked the
official site more than average intend more to go on opening weekend (M=4.4) than those who liked the official site less than average (M=3.95, F (1, 11,390) = 506.4, p < .01).
• Hypothesis 1b. Those who liked the official site more than the average scored higher on intent to purchase (M= 4.72) than those who liked the official site less than average (M=4.3, F (1, 11390) = 504.1, p <.01).
MySpace Page Results• Hypothesis 2a. Those who liked the
MySpace promotion page more than average planning to go more on opening weekend (M=4.15) than those who liked the MySpace page less than average (M=3.58, F (1, 535) = 31, p < .01).
• Hypothesis 2b. Those who liked the website more than the average scored higher on intent to purchase (M=4.68) than those who liked the MySpace page less than average (M= 4.05, F (1, 535) = 42.7, p <.01).
Comparison Results• Research Question 1: The official movie site
influences intent to purchase more (M=4.21) than the MySpace promotional site (M=3.86, F (1, 11927) = 54, p < .01).
• The official movie site influences opening weekend behavior more (M=4.54) than the MySpace promotional site (M=4.36, F (1, 11927) = 15.9, p < .01).
• Research Question 2: To the website liking index - respondents significantly like the official movie site more (M=.006) than the MySpace promotional site (M= -.09, F (1, 13731)= 8.3, p < .01
Frequent Moviegoer Results
• Research Question 3: Frequent Movie goers
– No significant effect on opening weekend behavior
– Frequent moviegoers indicated higher levels of intent to purchase (M=5.18) on the MySpace page than on the the official site (M=4.81, F (1, 4263) = 34.5, p <.01).
Discussion• Overall positive attitudes toward the sites
produced more favorable intent to purchase and movie opening weekend behavior.
• The official website was more effective than the MySpace promotional page at increasing intent to see and attendance on opening weekend.
• However, the means of both sites were high, showing that overall both the official website and MySpace page were effective at influencing intent to purchase and opening weekend behavior.
Limitations
• No survey measure to determine if respondents went to both the official website and the MySpace promotional page
• Differences in interest levels of site visitors may have slightly skewed the results
– Official movie site visitors have high involvement and interest in the film
– MySpace respondents may stumble across page
• Difference between intent and actual behavior